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Atari Games
Background: Atari Games Corporation (later renamed as Midway Games West) was an American producer of arcade games. It was originally the coin-operated arcade game division of Atari, Inc. and was split off into its own company in 1984. In 1989, Warner Communications merged with Time Inc., forming Time Warner. In 1993, Time Warner bought a controlling interest in Atari Games and made it a subsidiary of its Time Warner Interactive division. While Atari Games maintained its identity under the new ownership, its consumer division Tengen, on the other hand, had been removed from the map in favor of the Time Warner Interactive label. In mid-1994 Atari Games, Tengen, and Time Warner Interactive Group were all consolidated as Time Warner Interactive. In April 1996, after an unsuccessful bid by Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, Atari Games was sold to WMS Industries (owners of the Williams, and Bally/Midway arcade brands). When Hasbro Interactive bought the remains of Atari Corporation, the console manufacturer, and resurrected the Atari name in the home software arena starting in late 1998, Atari Games was renamed Midway Games West by parent company Midway Games to avoid confusing two Atari brands shortly after the release of San Francisco Rush 2049 in late 1999. Midway left the arcade market to concentrate on home systems in 2001, ending at the same time Atari Games' influence in the arcade industry. Midway Games West produced games for home systems, but was disbanded by Midway in early 2003 after a slump in game sales, ending the existence of Atari Games. The company didn't use a logo until the release of Klax in 1990. 1st Logo (1990) Logo: On the game's title screen, we see the normal Atari logo. Below it is "GAMES" in spaced out letters. FX/SFX: None. Music/Sounds: None. Availability: Seen on arcade games like Klax and Hydra. It is retained on the Game Boy Color port of the former. Editor's Note: None. 2nd Logo (1991) Logo: We see the same Atari Games logo from before only in chrome. The logo sparkles. FX/SFX: The sparkling. Music/Sounds: The opening theme of the game. Availability: Seen on the arcade game Batman. Editor's Note: None. 3rd Logo (1992) Nickname: "Happy 20 Years, Atari!" Logo: On a space background, with a moon on the bottom, we see the chrome Atari logo in gold. We see a ribbon behind the top of the Atari logo rotating. The banner reads "20 Years" and "1972-1992". On the moon, we see the blue words "GAMES". FX/SFX: The banner rotating. Music/Sounds: The opening theme of the game. Availability: Seen on the unreleased game Arcade Classics for the arcades. Editor's Note: None. 4th Logo (1995) Logo: On a black background, we see the Atari Games logo from the previous logos, only in stone, with a red shadow. FX/SFX: None. Music/Sounds: The opening theme of the game. Availability: Seen on T-Mek for Sega 32X. Editor's Note: None. 5th Logo (1995) Logo: On a black background, we see a metallic blue colored shiny version of the Atari tripod. Below it is "ATARI" in a futuristic font, and below it is "GAMES" in red. A UFO comes in, and a laser destroys the top of the logo. Then the UFO disappears. FX/SFX: The UFO destroying the top of the logo. Music/Sounds: A dramatic theme with laser sounds. Availability: Seen on the arcade version of Area 51. Editor's Note: None. 6th Logo (1996) Logo: On the game's copyright screen, we see the Atari Games from the previous logo. FX/SFX: None. Music/Sounds: None. Availability: Seen on the arcade version of Mace: The Dark Age. Editor's Note: None. 7th Logo (1997) Logo: On a red cloudy sky, a man holds the screen, shoots and explodes. We reveal the Atari Games logo with a copyright stamp and the URL appears. FX/SFX: The man holding, the changing. Music/Sounds: A dramatic theme. Availability: Seen on the arcade version of Maximum Force. Editor's Note: None. WORK IN PROGRESS